Using Bento Boxes for lunches.
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I have packed Bento lunches for a month now and am really enjoying them. I typically pack my lunch the night before and it always includes a naval orange. brown rice or soba noodles, grilled salmon or tuna and a salad ( lettuce, radish and carrot with ginger dressing). I am really enjoying the experience and wish I thought about going Bento years ago!0
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I guess it is déclassé to use a lunchbox like I have since second grade and continued through working at the machine shop? I miss them.0
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colejkeene wrote: »
He actually transfers things into a glass bowl I gave him to keep at the office. We don't like microwaving anything- even if it say it's "safe". Might be a bit hippy of us, but we both seem to agree, so it works for us.
Ahh that makes sense
Had a picnic lunch bento with the husband today. Salmon sushi, salmon and tuna sushimi, salad and fruit 0 -
I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!
that looks yum!Had a picnic lunch bento with the husband today. Salmon sushi, salmon and tuna sushimi, salad and fruit
I finally had time to make a bento. I missed having them for most of last week
Tomorrows is my standard bento, but I had another go at shaping my eggs and failed. I used extra large eggs, but they still didn't mould properly. I've just come to the conclusion that my egg moulds are huge. Underneath the veg there's also some red wine vinegar chicken. It totals about 500Cal.
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SpecialKitty7 wrote: »I gave it a go! Here's turkey, havarti & avocado wrapped in a carrot gem wrap, bolthouse farms yogurt ranch dressing, a salad cucumber and a raspberry fig bar. It's actually pretty good, i was a bit worried when i made the rolls, as the wrap was really like a fruit roll up, but overnight they softened and just kind of molded to my roll.
I made a lazy gal's snack box too, but haven't been hungry for it yet.
Thank you for sharing and I'm wondering what the gem wraps are. I've never heard of them. Also you might want to consider checking your dollar stores for small containers to hold your dressings/sauces so they don't spill and make things soggy. I've found leak proof plastic containers (have 4 locking flaps and gasket in lid) for $4 a piece about a year ago at Save-A-Lot and at Big Lots some small plastic shot glass type things with lids that don't spill for $1-2 around the same time and still see them there periodically. Bento = box in Japanese. I take that to mean I should use what I find works that's within my budget.
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I've been making bentos for over 6 years for my daughter. Started after she met a girl in school who's mom is from Okinawa and she (my girl) became interested and we found we liked the foods. The problem I find are side dishes and having rice everyday. 1 cup steamed rice is 204 calories and rice is supposed to be 1/3-1/2 of the bento (traditionally) so the calories add up. Without it I get hungry very fast so I balance the calories with veggies but these tend be mostly the same color....green. Ideas on how to fix it with minimal use of tomatoes? Tummy can't take the acid.0
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colejkeene wrote: »
He actually transfers things into a glass bowl I gave him to keep at the office. We don't like microwaving anything- even if it say it's "safe". Might be a bit hippy of us, but we both seem to agree, so it works for us.
Ahh that makes sense
Had a picnic lunch bento with the husband today. Salmon sushi, salmon and tuna sushimi, salad and fruit
Do you make the sashimi yourselves or purchase it then pack it? It looks yummy but I can't do it here at home. No idea how to filet anything!0 -
great post! I am starting a new job in a week and have some time off before so I may look into this. I was semi-aware of bento boxes but all these links are great.
Thanks0 -
ScreamingInside wrote: »SpecialKitty7 wrote: »I gave it a go! Here's turkey, havarti & avocado wrapped in a carrot gem wrap, bolthouse farms yogurt ranch dressing, a salad cucumber and a raspberry fig bar. It's actually pretty good, i was a bit worried when i made the rolls, as the wrap was really like a fruit roll up, but overnight they softened and just kind of molded to my roll.
I made a lazy gal's snack box too, but haven't been hungry for it yet.
Thank you for sharing and I'm wondering what the gem wraps are. I've never heard of them. Also you might want to consider checking your dollar stores for small containers to hold your dressings/sauces so they don't spill and make things soggy. I've found leak proof plastic containers (have 4 locking flaps and gasket in lid) for $4 a piece about a year ago at Save-A-Lot and at Big Lots some small plastic shot glass type things with lids that don't spill for $1-2 around the same time and still see them there periodically. Bento = box in Japanese. I take that to mean I should use what I find works that's within my budget.
One of the girls in the thread here is a paleo eater (I think that's what she is, or maybe it was gluten free, I forget) she had mentioned them and I purchased them on amazon. They are basically a vegetable fruit roll up that you use in place of flour tortilla shells.
I have a ton of small containers, just nothing that fit in that space, so i took a risk on the ranch spilling.
Most of my bento are Japanese style, I just like trying out new things.
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ScreamingInside wrote: »
Do you make the sashimi yourselves or purchase it then pack it? It looks yummy but I can't do it here at home. No idea how to filet anything!
I did make the sashimi! I bought a mold from the $2 shop to make the rice in the right size/shape and then just bought the fresh fish from the fresh fish shop near my house. I usually just ask the butcher person (are they still a butcher when they just work with fish??) to give me a thick but narrow piece of salmon and tuna and then just slice it up. Hope that makes sense!
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ScreamingInside wrote: »
Thank you for sharing and I'm wondering what the gem wraps are. I've never heard of them. Also you might want to consider checking your dollar stores for small containers to hold your dressings/sauces so they don't spill and make things soggy. I've found leak proof plastic containers (have 4 locking flaps and gasket in lid) for $4 a piece about a year ago at Save-A-Lot and at Big Lots some small plastic shot glass type things with lids that don't spill for $1-2 around the same time and still see them there periodically. Bento = box in Japanese. I take that to mean I should use what I find works that's within my budget.
That's spot on. There's been a few comments in this thread with people thinking they can't make a bento because they don't have the special boxes or the cutters that some of us have. A container of some kind, leakproof if you'll use saucy/soupy foods (I usually recommend them to be about 500mL in volume), a couple of small sauce containers and a small cooler/thermal bag for them are pretty much all you need. As an addition, maybe some plastic cutlery (if needed) and a small snack container. Everything else is optional (or an addiction).
I pretty much started this thread to see if anyone was using the same principles for packing their lunches in a 'bento-ish' way to control their portion sizes, pre-planning of meals and lunchbox staples to help make bring your lunch with you to school/work easier and more practical, and to have something that can actually look as good as it tastes after a commute or after sitting in a bag all day. That and new recipes are always welcome (I'm sad that I haven't been able to find those gem wraps in Australia ) 0 -
ScreamingInside wrote: »I've been making bentos for over 6 years for my daughter. Started after she met a girl in school who's mom is from Okinawa and she (my girl) became interested and we found we liked the foods. The problem I find are side dishes and having rice everyday. 1 cup steamed rice is 204 calories and rice is supposed to be 1/3-1/2 of the bento (traditionally) so the calories add up. Without it I get hungry very fast so I balance the calories with veggies but these tend be mostly the same color....green. Ideas on how to fix it with minimal use of tomatoes? Tummy can't take the acid.
Red, orange and yellow peppers. I love the mini sweet bell peppers that have recently shown up in bags at stores around me. Carrots are good. Fruit is also colorful.
Also, I almost never use rice in my daughter's lunches. If fact, none of her lunches are Asian food. You can make anything in bento boxes.0 -
Red, orange and yellow peppers. I love the mini sweet bell peppers that have recently shown up in bags at stores around me. Carrots are good. Fruit is also colorful.
Also, I almost never use rice in my daughter's lunches. If fact, none of her lunches are Asian food. You can make anything in bento boxes.
Second this! Fruit makes lunch look so colourful and tasty! Strawberries, blueberries, banana, kiwi fruit, apple and oranges! Now I'm hungry...0 -
Yep, that was me! You are right, I am Paleo, but I have to be gluten free. So really, just no grains either they all bother me now.SpecialKitty7 wrote: »ScreamingInside wrote: »SpecialKitty7 wrote: »I gave it a go! Here's turkey, havarti & avocado wrapped in a carrot gem wrap, bolthouse farms yogurt ranch dressing, a salad cucumber and a raspberry fig bar. It's actually pretty good, i was a bit worried when i made the rolls, as the wrap was really like a fruit roll up, but overnight they softened and just kind of molded to my roll.
I made a lazy gal's snack box too, but haven't been hungry for it yet.
Thank you for sharing and I'm wondering what the gem wraps are. I've never heard of them. Also you might want to consider checking your dollar stores for small containers to hold your dressings/sauces so they don't spill and make things soggy. I've found leak proof plastic containers (have 4 locking flaps and gasket in lid) for $4 a piece about a year ago at Save-A-Lot and at Big Lots some small plastic shot glass type things with lids that don't spill for $1-2 around the same time and still see them there periodically. Bento = box in Japanese. I take that to mean I should use what I find works that's within my budget.
One of the girls in the thread here is a paleo eater (I think that's what she is, or maybe it was gluten free, I forget) she had mentioned them and I purchased them on amazon. They are basically a vegetable fruit roll up that you use in place of flour tortilla shells.
I have a ton of small containers, just nothing that fit in that space, so i took a risk on the ranch spilling.
Most of my bento are Japanese style, I just like trying out new things.
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mangrothian wrote: »ScreamingInside wrote: »
Thank you for sharing and I'm wondering what the gem wraps are. I've never heard of them. Also you might want to consider checking your dollar stores for small containers to hold your dressings/sauces so they don't spill and make things soggy. I've found leak proof plastic containers (have 4 locking flaps and gasket in lid) for $4 a piece about a year ago at Save-A-Lot and at Big Lots some small plastic shot glass type things with lids that don't spill for $1-2 around the same time and still see them there periodically. Bento = box in Japanese. I take that to mean I should use what I find works that's within my budget.
That's spot on. There's been a few comments in this thread with people thinking they can't make a bento because they don't have the special boxes or the cutters that some of us have. A container of some kind, leakproof if you'll use saucy/soupy foods (I usually recommend them to be about 500mL in volume), a couple of small sauce containers and a small cooler/thermal bag for them are pretty much all you need. As an addition, maybe some plastic cutlery (if needed) and a small snack container. Everything else is optional (or an addiction).
I pretty much started this thread to see if anyone was using the same principles for packing their lunches in a 'bento-ish' way to control their portion sizes, pre-planning of meals and lunchbox staples to help make bring your lunch with you to school/work easier and more practical, and to have something that can actually look as good as it tastes after a commute or after sitting in a bag all day. That and new recipes are always welcome (I'm sad that I haven't been able to find those gem wraps in Australia )
The addiction part has set in! I now have $100 of containers and accessories in my Amazon cart!! LOL0 -
mangrothian wrote: »ScreamingInside wrote: »
Thank you for sharing and I'm wondering what the gem wraps are. I've never heard of them. Also you might want to consider checking your dollar stores for small containers to hold your dressings/sauces so they don't spill and make things soggy. I've found leak proof plastic containers (have 4 locking flaps and gasket in lid) for $4 a piece about a year ago at Save-A-Lot and at Big Lots some small plastic shot glass type things with lids that don't spill for $1-2 around the same time and still see them there periodically. Bento = box in Japanese. I take that to mean I should use what I find works that's within my budget.
That's spot on. There's been a few comments in this thread with people thinking they can't make a bento because they don't have the special boxes or the cutters that some of us have. A container of some kind, leakproof if you'll use saucy/soupy foods (I usually recommend them to be about 500mL in volume), a couple of small sauce containers and a small cooler/thermal bag for them are pretty much all you need. As an addition, maybe some plastic cutlery (if needed) and a small snack container. Everything else is optional (or an addiction).
I pretty much started this thread to see if anyone was using the same principles for packing their lunches in a 'bento-ish' way to control their portion sizes, pre-planning of meals and lunchbox staples to help make bring your lunch with you to school/work easier and more practical, and to have something that can actually look as good as it tastes after a commute or after sitting in a bag all day. That and new recipes are always welcome (I'm sad that I haven't been able to find those gem wraps in Australia )
The addiction part has set in! I now have $100 of containers and accessories in my Amazon cart!! LOL
Just wait... soon you'll get like this (the picture was posted originally in early Feb, so I have a few more to add to the collection now)
In a way, it's probably a good thing that Amazon shipping costs an arm and a leg to get here. It means I need to go out of my way to search for my boxes.0 -
@mangrothian, I have Amazon Prime so I get free 2-day all the time, plus I have the credit card!! Dangerous!! I do order a lot on there besides this, so the annual fee is well worthwhile for me.
Where did you get the cute dividers?0 -
@cindytw I bought the dividers from Daiso. You can get the silicone teddy bear/frog ones from allthingsforsale. The love heart ones are disposable plastic ones, but I just wipe them down, dry them off and use them again. The rest of my dividers are just different pieces of silicone bakeware that I've found at a few different places.
Australia's Amazon site is only for kindle unfortunately, so there's no Amazon prime for us and the shipping is pretty exorbitant (especially after currency conversion), which is the main thing that stops me from going even further cray cray with my Bento collection. 0 -
I just recently purchased a super cute bento box and I really want to start packing bento lunches. Definitely need some ideas to get me started, though. There seem to be tons of options and it's a tad overwhelming.0
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Bento today: chicken fajitas, wild rice, apple slices, and an egg in the shape of an earless bear
(that you can't even see in the picture anyways)
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